Written in the Stars
by PrincessDaydream77
Summary: AU after the end of 9A. Term has begun once again, and there is no more hiding their relationship, as Simon and Sue return to school as a married couple. But with Waterloo Road just as hectic as ever, and more dramas along the way, can the Lowsleys prove to each other and the world that they were written in the stars? My first Waterloo Road story.
1. New Beginnings

Written in the Stars

Summary: AU after the end of 9A. Term has begun once again, and there is no more hiding their relationship, as Simon and Sue return to school as a married couple. But with Waterloo Road just as hectic as ever, and more dramas along the way, can the Lowsleys prove to each other and the world that they were written in the stars? My first Waterloo Road story.

Disclaimer: Everything belongs to its rightful owners.

Chapter One

As the gates of Waterloo Road came into sight at last, both Simon and Sue Lowsley breathed a heavy sigh at the sight of it. In truth, the sighs had been of mixed emotions, as the younger of the two of them had not been looking forward to a return to the school, but even so, both were glad to be back in their home town, after having spent a blissful two weeks on honeymoon in Tenerife.

As the man drove the car through the gates, coming to park in the space that had been reserved for him as the Deputy Head of the school, the redhead noted that this was the first occasion on which both of them had proudly walked into the building together, as for the sake of hiding their relationship from the students, one of them had almost always entered the gates first, while the other had come in later, and even after they began walking in at the same time, Simon had always protested that they were car sharing, so as to set a good example for saving the environment. But now, with a ring on her finger and a new name on her door, there was no need to pretend anymore. Finally, they were free to show their love in the vicinity of the building which now meant so much to the pair of them.

The car had come to a stop when Sue finally realised that she had been daydreaming again, and when she turned her head to the side, she saw that her husband was staring in her direction, a smirk of amusement lighting up his features. That smile in particular always reminded her of the one that had adorned his face, only a few moments before he had set the date for their wedding, and the memory alone made her smile along with him.

"So, are you ready, Mrs. Lowsley?" Simon asked, deliberately mimicking the words that she had spoken to him on their wedding day, and the slight chuckle he gave at the end of the sentence told her that he did not do so in malice, only in playfulness.

"Yes, Mr. Lowsley." she returned, playing along to his jesting, although she was not certain that the words were true when applied to this situation. Mind you, she was not sure that she would ever be ready to return to Waterloo Road, no matter what name she would have on her door, but she would try her best to be strong enough to negotiate the day ahead of them, taking her own advice that they should take things one step at a time from now on.

When they stepped out of the car, Sue took yet another deep breath, hoping that her husband had not noticed the amount of times she had done so. Luckily, he seemed to be more occupied in speaking to Christine Mulgrew, who had just stepped out of her own car, about the arrangements for the January exams to notice the change in her behaviour. The woman found that she had never been so relieved to be ignored.

"Sue, I'm going to have to go." Simon told his wife, and though his expression seemed neutral, she could see the slight regret in his eyes. "Will you be alright to lock up and go in on your own?"

Immediately, the redhead found that she wanted to let her mind take over, to speak the words patterned across her head for once in her life. '_No!'_ she wanted to cry out to him. '_No, Simon, I can't do this alone! I need you here with me!'_

But, of course, she did not. She merely nodded her head, plastering a smile onto her face. Seeming to be convinced for now, the man thrust his hand into his jacket pocket and threw the car keys to his partner, before turning and entering the school with Christine, leaving Sue alone.

Once her new husband was out of sight, the woman finally allowed herself to sigh, slamming the boot of the car after retrieving her large bag full of books for her classes, as well as her handbag. After the fiasco her previous job had caused when it came to light, she had decided to leave her wheeled trolley at home, not wanting to spark their comments once again, and so had replaced it. The new bag was, of course, extremely heavy, but it was worth the pain to avoid the awful nickname she had acquired the previous term.

'_At least I'll get to have a little time in the staffroom before I have to face the kids, so I can be at least a bit more prepared for my classes.'_ she reasoned with herself, trying to find some sort of a positive within the sea of worries that filled her mind. Granted, there were more positive things in the world than spending a quarter of an hour listening to Audrey McFall preach non-violence to the rest of the staff, but at this point in time, she would take any positive that she could get.

This being the first time she had entered the school on her own since her first day, Sue paused just outside of the door, ignoring the protests of the students that were trying to get past. Now that she was about to enter the school once again, she found herself unsure once again that she could do this alone. Throughout her honeymoon and even that morning, she had been convinced that she could cope with her classes, but now, she did not think that she could do this, especially not without having Simon reassure her first. She had never known just how much comfort her husband's presence had given her, but now she knew.

Suddenly, the bell rang, signalling that there were five minutes to go until lessons began. The students began to forcefully push past the redheaded woman, but she did not put up a fight, just moved slightly to the side, shaking her head to bring herself out of the daze she was standing in. It seems that there had not been fifteen minutes to go after all. The time was here, after all, and there was no time to worry any further.

And so, breathing deeply to try and calm herself sufficiently, Sue retraced the well known steps to her classroom, trying to ready herself for her first lesson of the day. '_And if I can get through this,' _she told herself. '_Then I can get through anything.'_

A/N: Please review this first chapter, because it's my first Waterloo Road story, and Sue/Simon is my OTP for this fandom! By the way, more Twinkle in the next chapter, I promise!


	2. Confessions

Chapter Two

A/N: Thank you to AmyOncer and LittleBooLost for being my first reviewers for this story.

Heaving a sigh that was filled with nerves, Sue leant back against the wall of her classroom, careful to choose the wall beside the door, as she knew that it was the only place her class would not be able to see her. They were getting rowdy now, she could hear them even through the wood of the door, and she knew that if Christine or George came past, she would be done for, but she just needed one more moment to gather her courage for the day to come.

Fourth Year Physics was her first class of the new term, but more importantly, it was the first class she would teach under the name of Mrs. Lowsley, as opposed to the previous term, when she had still been Miss Spark. She had thought that having Simon's name, given all the respect he had gained in the school, would have made the students a little more cooperative, but all it had done was make her more nervous than anything. If she got into any trouble now, there would be no denying that she was connected to Simon, and any stupid mistakes that she made would reflect badly on him. '_I don't want to do that to him.'_ she told herself. '_I want to make him proud of me.'_

And so, before she could change her mind, Sue walked over to the door and threw it open, beckoning the class into the room. They did not settle down in the least at the sight of her, no different to the last term, with Shaznay Montrose practically shrieking as she shared a joke with Lisa Brown. Once all the students had entered the classroom, she closed the door, having to fight with her instincts not to just collapse up against it. None of the pupils seemed to notice as she took her place at the front of the room, but she carried on nonetheless. She had to try, at least.

"Right, settle down now." she told the class, her voice a little raised, but still no match for the students, who seemed to be louder than ever. She continued to speak, raising her voice even louder to try and compete with them, as, other than Lenny Brown and Archie Wong, no one seemed to be listening at all. "Welcome back to school, class. Now, I know you've just come back from the holidays, but we still have work to do, so let's get on with it. Will you be quiet please?"

But her efforts remained to no avail, as to the noise drowned out her speech entirely. It was not even five minutes into the lesson, but already, Sue was having to blink back tears from her eyes. '_Pull yourself together!'_ she exclaimed in her mind. '_Crying won't make it any easier to control the kids. All it'll do is make it worse.'_

"Can you all just be quiet, please?" she asked once again, forcing her voice to be as loud as she could make it. She could feel the crackle in her throat as her voice began to break from the sheer volume she had forced it to. But it was still not enough, and the noise continued. "Please, can you all just stop it?!"

"What is going on here?!" There was no mistaken the identity of the person that had spoken in the doorway, but of all the times she had wished to have Simon by her side, this was the time when it was the most inconvenient. Immediately, upon hearing the shout of their Deputy Head, the class fell into silence. For the first time in her life, Sue found that she preferred the deafening racket to the awkward silence. At least when the room had been so loud, the attention had been diverted away from her. Now, she was right in the firing line.

Unconsciously, the redhead found her head drooping toward the floor. Simon was lecturing the group of teenagers about their behaviour, that much she knew. He had given a similar lecture during her very first week, just after her Year Six Biology students had found out that she had formerly been an air stewardess, another memory from Waterloo Road that Sue would rather forget.

The man had threatened the students with the Cooler, and so they had finally quietened down, as none of them wanted to spend an hour of their time sat in a silent room with a teacher glaring down at them. For just a moment, Sue felt some relief, hoping that the situation would now be put behind them, but the second she saw the expression on her new husband's face, she knew that this was not over, not by a long shot.

"Mrs. Lowsley." Simon began, his voice showing no tenderness at all. The redhead almost flinched at his tone. He had used her married name on only a handful of occasions, but never once had he done so when he was angry. Nevertheless, Sue forced herself to raise her eyes to his, not wanting to appear the weak willed staff member she had been last term, especially not in front of her class. "Could I have a word in my office, please?"

Though she obeyed his veiled order, the woman did not speak. She remained silent and composed, even once Simon had left her, to go and arrange a cover teacher for the rest of the period. When he returned, he found her seated at one of the chairs in front of his desk, crossing and uncrossing her lower legs, as she often did when she was nervous.

Once he had taken a seat, very much the Deputy Head, Simon leant forward slightly, his arms resting against the surface of his desk. Immediately, Sue wrapped her arms around herself, suddenly feeling extremely self conscious. This was not the man she had married that she was talking to now. This was Mr. Lowsley, the Deputy Head of Waterloo Road, and the difference between him and Twinkle was astounding.

"Sue," he began, and the redhead found herself a little surprised that he was addressing her by her first name, when he was clearly trying so hard to be professional. "What happened to you in that class? You were doing really well, I thought you were over this anxiety. What's wrong?"

"I'm not fine, Simon, I've never been fine here!" she found herself yelling, and once again, she was blinking back the tears. "I was just pretending that I was coping, because I didn't want to let you down again!"

"Sue, for goodness' sake!" he exclaimed in response. "Your 'pretending' has caused more problems than it's solved! There was the experiment that set off the fire alarm, the tranquiliser tablets, Lenny Brown and the fake supply teacher! I have been in Christine's office defending you almost from day one, and none of that would have happened if you'd just had enough sense to come and see me!"

"I didn't know how!" Sue all but screamed, and suddenly Simon fell silent. The anger on his face had faded now, leaving only shock. He even seemed a little hurt by her words, but he was obviously looking for her to explain herself, and so she did, her voice now far quieter. "You were always so busy with your projects and your meetings, and when we got out of school, my dad was always there, and I couldn't risk him finding out that I was a rubbish teacher, because I've already disappointed him enough in my lifetime and I don't want to make him to be ashamed of me. I don't want you to be either."

"Sue, I'm not ashamed of you." the man sighed, and he stood from behind his desk. Not wanting to risk seeing the disappointment in his eyes, the redhead diverted her gaze to the floor, her eyes wandering uninterestedly across the patterns on the carpet. She did not look up until she felt a pressure on her arm, and raised her head to see that her husband had moved to sit next to her, and laid a hand on her upper arm. "I'm sure your dad isn't either. I just... I wish you'd come to me. I could've done something, I could've helped you."

"Well, it's too late now, isn't it?" Sue spoke, blinking the tears back from her eyes. "If Christine realises that I can't control my class, then I'll be out of here before the end of the week. George Windsor has been looking for a reason to get me fired, and now he has one. It's no use, Simon. I'm out of time."

"No, Sue, you're not." Simon told her firmly, turning his wife around in her chair so that she was looking into his eyes. "I am going to sort this out for you, today, at lunch. I am not going to let this get any worse, because it is my fault that it's become this bad in the first place. I promised that I would look out for you, and I didn't. Sue, I'm sorry."

And then, something happened that the woman had unconsciously wished for, something that she had not expected in the least when she had first entered the office. In one fluid motion, Simon moved forward in his chair and wrapped his arms tightly around her, pulling Sue to his chest and kissing the top of her head gently.

Finally, all of the pent up emotions from that day, all her worries about her classes and her family and what everyone would think of her poured out into her husband's embrace, and when the tears began to fall from her eyes, she made no move to stop them. Simon held her as she cried, kissing her head on occasion, and rocking her in his arms.

It hurt the man more than he could say, seeing his darling wife in such a state. Sue meant the world to him, and he was not about to let this job get her down any more. She was clearly trying her best to make this work for them, and he had let her down enough. Not anymore.

A/N: I updated again because I have exams coming up now, so there's probably going to be a longer wait for the next couple of chapters. I am trying though, so please review!


	3. Broken Promises, Awful Consequences

Chapter Three

A/N: Thank you to LittleBooLost, AmyOncer, funkypen1 and 99 for reviewing the last chapter.

Since the incident in Simon's office, a few hours had passed, but so far, not one of them had been a lesson that Mrs. Lowsley had had to teach. Fourth Year Physics was a double period, and so the cover teacher from the first half of the lesson had continued to teach the duration, whilst third period was one of the four free lessons Sue had that week, thanks to the new extended timetable from the council. Fourth period had been her lunch hour, the time in which her husband had arranged to meet her, to sort out her issues with the students before her last class of the day. The only trouble was... he had never arrived.

Now, the chemistry students from Year Six were shouting and complaining outside the door, and Sue found herself even more fearful than she had been before teaching Year Four that morning. When Simon had told her that he would help her overcome her anxieties, everything had felt alright again, but now that he had let her down, she felt more vulnerable than ever.

But, as the noise reached a deafening level, the redhead realised that there was no use hoping any longer for something that was never going to happen. It was past time for the class to begin, and there was no chance that her husband would turn up now.

So, taking a deep breath into her lungs and holding it there, Sue crossed the room to the door at a near run and flung it open before she had a chance to change her mind. She could hear several groans and comments about her allowing them into the classroom, and the time she had taken to do so, but they sat in their seats with a great deal less noise and fuss than Year Four had done that morning. '_That's something to be grateful for, at least.'_ the teacher thought, pressing the button on the small remote that brought up her PowerPoint presentation for the lesson.

"Right, class. Settle down now, please." Sue instructed, and to her complete amazement, they did so without much hesitation. She smiled brightly at this. Maybe she didn't need Simon's help, after all. "Now, today we are going to be learning about genetics, and how the patterns of DNA in our cells help to make us who we are."

She paused for a second, as she heard a loud yawn come from the back of the classroom, and the voice of Rhiannon Salt carried through the silence. "Boring!"

The majority of the students laughed at this exclamation, and Sue was about to tell the girl off, when she remembered what Grantly Budgen had taught her in the staffroom, on the same day that he'd died.

And so she stood, making no comment, at the front of the classroom, and let the noise die down to silence. It worked immediately, and the girl with the dyed red hair looked down towards her work bench in embarrassment.

"Right. Can you all get out your textbooks and turn to page 33, please?" the redhead requested, before turning to write on the board, using this excuse to let go of the breath she hadn't known she'd been holding.

Half an hour of the lesson had passed now, and there had been little more trouble than there had been at the beginning. By this point, Sue was really beginning to think that she had turned a corner with her class. However, Rhiannon was still furious at being humiliated like that, and she was not the sort of person to let it lie, something that the former Miss Spark should have known all too well, after the incident with the fire alarm.

"And so, you have the dominant genes for hair colour, which are dark colours, like black." Mrs. Lowsley explained, indicating the slide on the board, which showed several punnet squares of various hair gene combinations, and what the outcome would be of these. "This allele will be dominant over any combination with blonde hair, because blonde hair is a recessive allele, unless both parents are heterozygous and carry the recessive allele. Any questions about that so far?"

Delighted to be given the opportunity to humiliate her teacher in return, Rhiannon threw her hand into the air. "Miss?"

"Yes, Rhiannon?" said Sue, a little wary about what the girl would say, but trying to keep this fact hidden.

"So, are yours and Twinkle's kids going to be ginger then, or what?" Immediately, the class erupted in fits of laughter. Mrs. Lowsley sharply inhaled a breath and let it out again, trying not to panic as she had used to do. She should have known that the bliss of a trouble-free classroom was too good to be true.

"I really don't think that's relevant to the lesson, Rhiannon." she tried to say, but she was quickly cut across by the bolshy girl.

"I mean, cos you're ginger and Twinkle isn't, so does that mean they wouldn't be?" Rhiannon continued, completely disregarding her teacher's wish for her to stop.

"Rhiannon, please..." she tried once more to interrupt the student, but once again, her attempts were shot down in flames.

"Miss, why's your dad and your sister not ginger, if you are?" the young woman quickly changed the topic, and this time, Sue could feel the pressure mounting inside her. She was almost at breaking point.

Forgetting what Grantly had told her in her panic, the science teacher responded to the question with a truthful answer. "Well, my mum was. Apart from that, it's just the way genes work, Rhiannon, they make different combinations in everyone. That's why no one is the same. Now, that brings us back to these Punnett squares..."

But her final desperate attempts to bring the lesson back to order were thwarted, as the troublesome pupil had decided to completely change the subject once again, and this time, it was too much for Sue to take.

"Miss, what does your mum think about you being a teacher?" Rhiannon asked, seeming innocent enough as she did it, though the redhead stood at the front of the room doubted that she wasn't aware of the situation, as she seemed to know everything else about her private life. "I mean, you're a pretty rubbish one, so I doubt she's that proud of you. Was she more proud back when you were on the airlines, or were you rubbish at that too?"

Finally, Sue could take no more of the humiliation and sprinted from the room, just stopping to grab her handbag from the floor before she left. Her students watched her as she began to run from the door, and she could vaguely hear Imogen and Dynasty beginning to argue with Rhiannon, but she didn't care anymore. She just wanted to get as far from that classroom as she could.

And so she ran out of the school doors, moving past the bike sheds, past hers and Simon's car and out of the gates, running blinding away from Waterloo Road, and from the memory of the vital promise that had been broken there just a few hours ago.

When she finally stopped running, leaning against a wall five streets away, she allowed the tears swimming in her eyes to finally fall down her cheeks. '_Why, Simon?'_ she asked in her mind. '_Why did you have to promise me and let me down again?'_

A/N: Please review!


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